Marpa, Milarepa, and the early Gampopa and Kagyu Tradition

Guenther, Herbert (1970). The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. London: Rider & Company. This is an early "stages of the path" (lam rim) study by sGam po pa.

Jampa MacKenzie Steward (1995). The Life of Gampopa: the incomparable Dharma Lord of Tibet. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. This is an amalgamation of different textual and oral sources, though one may misunderstand it as a single translation if one doesn’t read the preface carefully. Thus it reads nicely, but is problematic to use for historical research since none of the different pieces are identified in terms of sources.
Blue Annals on life of Gampopa (tr. 451-468)

Martin, Dan (1992). “A Twelfth-century Tibetan Classic of Mahamudra, The Path of Ultimate Profundity: The Great Seal Instructions of Zhang”. In the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 243-319.

Martin, Daniel (1996). Wrapping Your Own head. Problems of Context and Individuality as Pre- and Post-Considerations for Translating the Path of Ultimate Profundity, the Great Seal Instructions of Zhang, a Twelfth-century Tibetan verse Compendium of Oral Instructions of Mahamudra". In Translating, Translations, Translators from India to the West, Enrica Garzilli, ed. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University, pp. 59-73.

‘bri gung bka’ brgyud

find that trnalstaion by Kathleen.

dgongs gcig phd from harvard

phag mo gru pa bka’ brgyud

see phag mo gru pa comments in cy luminous lives since he is earliest of sachen kunga nyingpo’s lam’ ‘bras students who had any impace.

‘brug pa bka’ brgyud

Smith, Gene (2001). “Golden Rosaries of the Bka’ brgyud Schools”, in Among Tibetan Texts, pp. 39-52. Boston: Wisdom Publications. This genre of literature are collections of hagiographic writing that also often include “instructions” (man ngag) of a tradition. They probably originated within the ‘brug pa nd stag lung traditions of the bka’ brgyud, with their focus on bla mchod and rnam thar, but were not limited to the ka’ brgyud traditions. This was written as an introduction to a late fifteenth century gser ‘phreng of the ‘ba’ ra branch of the ‘brug pa bka’ brgyud pa tradition, but includes a great survey of the various bka’ brgyud subschools.

Smith, Gene (2001). “The Life of Gtsang smyon Heruka Tradition”, in Among Tibetan Texts, pp. 59-80. Boston: Wisdom Publications. gtsang smyon heruka (1452-1507) was in fact a member of the ras chung bka’ brgyud pa sect, with its transmission of the ras chung snyang rgyud of the bde mchog mkha’ ‘gro snyang rgyud. However this was later subsumed by the
‘brug pa bka’ brgyud pa, especially the stod subsect (smith-texts, 61), and so he is now considered to belong to the ‘brug pa bka’ brgyud.

Martin, Daniel. Beyond Acceptance and Rejection? The Anti-Bon Polemic included in the Thirteenth-Century Single Intention (Dgongs-gcig Yig-cha) and Its Background in Tibetan Religious History. Journal of Indian Philosophy, vol. 25, no. 3 (June 1997), pp. 263-305.

Broido. There are a number of articles by him on the Mahāmudrā writings of Pad ma dkar po (1527-1592), one of the more important ‘brug pa bka’ brgyud authors historically.

The kar ma bka’ brgyud sect

Richardson, Hugh (?). “The Karma-pa Sect. A Historical Note” in High Peaks, Pure Earth, pp. 337-378. A excellent historical survey with an emphasis on politics, and relations to the Mongolians and Chinese.

Kodrakpa/Godrakpa (ko brag pa bsod names rgyal mtshan, 1170-1249) Stearns, Cyrus, translator (2000). Hermit of Go Cliffs. Boston: Wisdom Publications. He is dealt with in the beginning of the ninth chapter of the Blue Annals, which is otherwise devoted to the shangs pa bka’ brgyud tradition. He was an ecumenical figure outside of the sectarian traditions of the time, and ‘gos lotsaba himself is clear that he is hard to classify as a bka’ brgyud or not. This is a beautiful translation of his poetic songs.

Theoretical work

Gyatso, Janet. "Healing Burns with Fire: The Facilitations of Experience in Tibetan Buddhism." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 67.1 (1999): 113-147. REQUESTED FOR E-RESERVE THIS SEMESTER.

Sharf, Robert H. "Experience". In Critical Terms for Religious Studies, edited by Mark C. Taylor, Chicago: The University of chicago Press, pp. 94-116. REQUESTED FOR E-RESERVE THIS SEMESTER.

Sakya Pandita's criticism of Mahāmudrā
Rhoton) text into the course readings. The text is extremely juicy, containing blunt descriptions and opinions of a wide range of traditions popular at Sa-pan's time. These will compliment the historical info we will find in the BA in a way that probably no other English language translation can. The same goes for the six epistles in the appendix of the translation.